TEAM SHOTS

• Linebacker Adalius Thomas gives his assessment of the young, but talented, Buffalo Bills offense. Plus, news and notes from the Patriots locker room and Thursday’s practice.
• Matt Cassel's locker room interview.
• Bill Belichick's Press Conference.
• Dick Jauron's and Trent Edwards' Conference Calls.
  

LOCAL SHOTS

• Jim McCabe wonders which Bills team will show up on Sunday, the 4-0 or the 1-3.
• Shalise Manza Young gives us her mid-year state of the Patriots analysis.
• Mike Reiss puts the Bills in Focus.
• Robert Lee writes Buffalo's big offensive line will be a tough test of Pats defense.
• Ron Borges details the difficulties Larry Izzo and his crew will have facing off against the Bills' special teams unit.
• Chris Gasper notes that the QB's in the rest of the AFC East have all upgraded, and says Cassel might not be Brady, but he's earned the respect of the division.
• Globe Patriots Notebook:  Bills' Special Teams, DeAngelo Hall might interest the Pats now that he's cleared waivers, a check-up on the injured, and Wilfork denying ESPN's report that he admitted to Goodell the hit to Losman's knee was a cheap shot.
• Chris Gasper and Mike Reiss preview the Pats - Bills AFC East battle.
• Mike Reiss gives us some pre-game thoughts from CBS analyst Randy Cross.
• Mark Farinella reports the Patriots are now starting a three-game run through the rest of the AFC East, with two of the games coming in short order.  He also notes they will play the Colts in Indy again next season as the NFL's current cycle of predetermined scheduling finally comes to an end.
• Karen Guregian finds Cassel has progressed to the stage where the offense is running smoothly and efficiently - although still a bit on the conservative side.
• Christopher Price asserts Matt Cassel could be in line for a big payday, depending on the last two months of the season.
• Projo's short and sweet Patriots vs. Bills preview and interactive quiz.  See how much you know about the history of this rivalry.
• Karen Guregian notes head coach Dick Jauron feels the Bills' losing 9 straight games to the Patriots gives them an inner edge, and Deltha O'Neal and Ellis Hobbs talk about containing explosive receiver Lee Evans.

VIEW FROM BUFFALO

• Bob Matthews (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle) is frustrated at the Bills' red-zone woes.
• Sal Maiorana (Rochester D & C) notes Bills DT Marcus Stroud says there's nothing wrong on defense that a victory won't fix.
• Chris Brown (Buffalobills.com) reports that the Division's 3-4 fronts have been slowing the Bills attack.
• Dan Peiringer (Buffalobills.com) offers his Bills-Patriots Preview.

LONG SHOTS

• Adam Schefter (NFL.com) looks for DeAngelo Hall to make a decision in the next 24-48 hours.  The teams expected to show interest are the Giants, Redskins, Patriots, Saints and Steelers.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) wonders if the sack-starved Bills will feast on generous Pats.
• Peter King (SI) predicts the Patriots to beat the Bills on Sunday.
• Yahoo! Sports says turning things around will be a challenge this week at New England because of Buffalo's injuries.
• Albert Breer (Sporting News) ranks the 13 backup quarterbacks that have had to step in for 11 teams through week 9.  Matt Cassel is number 2 (as always), behind 8-0 Kerry Collins.
• Dennis Waszak (AP) grades each team in the wide-open AFC East.